Move over MIA-SFO's giving you a run for your money: Published Wednesday, April 19, 2006, by the San Francisco Bay Guardian Where's Bill? Former supervisor Maher has a lucrative job at the airport. Funny thing, though: He doesn't seem to show up much By G.W. Schulz Under former mayor Willie Brown, the San Francisco International Airport had a well-deserved reputation as a haven for political hacks who were friends of the mayor, patronage appointees who earned comfortable city jobs in exchange for their loyalty. But Brown's been gone for more than two years now. So why are there still jobs at SFO that involve little visible work and come with nice pay and perks? Case study number one is Bill Maher. Maher, a former supervisor, was a Brown supporter, and in 1998 he was rewarded with a position as "regulatory affairs director" at SFO. It's hard to figure out exactly what the $128,000-a-year job involves -- but coming to work apparently isn't part of it. We've been hearing complaints for a while from airport sources who say that some well-compensated managers get paid and never show up. And it turns out that's more than just chatter. Maher, like other airport employees, gets a special pass that lets him park for free. And every time he swipes the card, it creates a record. We've obtained copies of those records under the city's Sunshine Ordinance, and they're illuminating. During the entire month of December 2005, Maher used his parking card for only four days of work. In November of that year, he used it for only five days of work. During October, he used it slightly more -- eight times. During no single month in 2005 did he use it for more than 11 days. And at no time, according to city records, did he ask to be reimbursed for BART tickets. (Airport spokesperson Michael McCarron insists that Maher does take BART from time to time.) That means -- unless he's walking or riding a bike the 13 miles from his $1 million home on Waller Street to SFO -- he comes into the office, on average, less than half the time. When reached for comment, Maher directed us to the airport's community affairs office, saying, "I haven't talked to the press since I arrived at the airport seven years ago." McCarron told us in an e-mail that Maher "continues to be heavily involved off the airport site itself. ... [He] spends a great deal of time reviewing and attending appropriate board, commission, and regulatory meetings." (For the full text of McCarron's e-mail, see below.) Brown had initially appointed Maher to lead the Department of Parking and Traffic, but he proved to be so controversial that Brown himself criticized the short-term parking czar. Instead, Maher went to the airport, where he has managed to stay almost entirely out of sight and has seen his pay increase to the point where he's making almost $30,000 more a year than he did when he first arrived. Maher isn't the only one whose cushy job is raising eyebrows among airport employees who actually work for a living. There's also Bill Lee, who served as city administrator under former mayors Brown and Frank Jordan and was sent to the airport by Mayor Gavin Newsom last year, when the current mayor created a new $150,000 position for him as "director of international economic and tourism development." As the San Francisco Chronicle's Matier and Ross noted at the time, Newsom couldn't appear to be giving the politically well-connected Lee anything but a soft landing when the mayor decided he wanted someone else as city manager. According to a description listed by Department of Human Resources, Lee's position minimally requires a bachelor's degree and 10 years' experience in city government, which Lee certainly has. But few details are given for what the job actually involves. And curiously, the description caps the position's salary at $134,000, which is $16,000 less than what Lee makes now. And, of course, the airport had operated for decades without an international economic and tourism development director. Lee's fringe benefits include a Ford Crown Victoria, according to city records, which has cost taxpayers $1,600 alone in service costs over the last nine months. And Lee apparently did promote the airport late last year during a taxpayer-financed $22,000 nine-day trip to China with two mayoral staffers, Matthew Goudeau and Mark Chandler. (Newsom and Sen. Dianne Feinstein also made the trip on a different bill.) Lee disputes any suggestion that his position was merely a "soft landing." Over coffee in his spacious City Hall office recently (he maintains another one at the airport), he said 90 percent of the world's airlines provide flights to San Francisco, and many of those flights extend from Asian countries, where he said he's continuing to make considerable inroads in attracting new business. He insisted that vital future markets for the city are in the Far East, including China. He said the government of China recently paid for him to make another trip to the country for business purposes. "Every time we have an international flight," he said, "everyone makes money. ... If people have a problem with what I do, I encourage them to come talk to me." One source, however, didn't have the most pleasant things to say about the situation at the airport. "How can we expect [SFO] to compete globally if it's going to be a dumping ground for mayoral has-beens?" the source said. "There are a lot of hardworking people at the airport." Newsom, at least, notably let go two former Republican state lawmakers in 2004 who had earned well-paying city jobs after giving Brown key votes when the former mayor worked as a legislator in Sacramento. But during a time when the city is unable to find the resources necessary to make permanent scores of temp workers who often labor for years without job security or even health and retirement benefits, many such managers continue to earn six-figure salaries. In August airport commissioner Michael Strunsky bemoaned learning of newly hired, high-profile, and well-compensated airport employees "in the newspaper or by telephone" and said the commission should be notified in advance, according to meeting minutes. Airport commissioner Linda Crayton asked deputy airport director Leo Fermin at the time if the airport's budget and payroll were "disproportionate to other city departments." Fermin responded that the budget was based on the airport's share of total city employees. An assistant to the commission told us she wasn't aware of the issue being raised since. The mayor's office apparently isn't concerned. Peter Ragone, the mayor's press secretary, told us over the phone that "[airport] director [John] Martin has conducted a thorough review of the questions posed by the Bay Guardian, and we are confident in his conclusions and his ability to manage his staff effectively." But some say real reform is still needed. "I don't think it's really just a Willie Brown problem," David Novogrodsky, executive director of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21, said. "There's always going to be some stuff like that. But most people work really hard," he added. Novogrodsky, who described civil service reforms so far as "phony," said the city's human resources office still gives individual departments a lot of flexibility in hiring professional employees. Job requirements for management posts that may not seem all that "managerial," the union has complained, depend heavily on the discretion of department heads in terms of the qualifications required. When asked whether Lee's or Maher's jobs would be targeted during budget negotiations, Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin treaded [sic!] lightly. "I would never do anything like that. That'd be illegal," he said. "But I would ask if certain jobs in government can be justified. I'm not targeting anybody in any department. But it's the board's job to ask tough questions." The Airport's story An annotated guide to how SFO tries to justify a high-pay, little- work job Here is the complete text of Airport Spokesperson Michael McCarron's email to us responding to questions about Bill Maher's job. We've added a few notes and comments where appropriate. Since McCarron is a professional public-relations person, we have not changed a word of his email. All the numerous grammatical and punctuation errors are his. From: Michael McCarron <Michael.McCarron@...> Sent: Monday, April 17, 2006 5:14 PM To: George W. Schulz Cc: Kandace Bender Subject: RE: questions for Bill Maher My apologies for the delayed response. (We had sent over the questions five days earlier and received no response until moments before our deadline. McCarron was well aware of our deadlines.) A regulatory manager monitors, State, Regional and local bodies for activities and rule changes that could impact the Airport. They monitor and attend meetings as are appropriate, including the Water Transit Authority, BCDC, the California High Speed Rail Authority and the myriad local government agencies in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. (The California High-Speed Rail Authority has met only once this year and will likely not meet again until July. It met six times last year. BCDC Executive Director Will Travis told us that other than running into Maher and Airport Director John Martin occasionally, "I haven't seen them very much. It's been a couple of years." SFO's point person on the Regional Airport Planning Committee is Ivar Satero.) In addition, at the request of the Director, Mr. Maher also meets regularly with members of the San Francisco and San Mateo County Boards of Supervisors who express a strong interest in Airport issues, as well as with their staffs. (San Francisco Board President Aaron Peskin said he meets with Maher about every three-to-four months to discuss airport-related issues, including, most recently, terminal improvement. Maher used to serve on the Board of Supervisors. He has long promoted new airport runways, which Peskin and most of his colleagues oppose.) In addition to those duties the Director has charged Mr. Maher with creating and maintaining relations with the regional business community the local government bodies and he is a member of a committee reviewing terminal usage, renovation and replacement. He previously worked on the Airport Reorganization Committee and is presently involved in the analysis and conceptual work for terminal facilities renovation. He was recently named to the Facilities Planning Committee as well. Mr. Maher has been at the Airport for 7 years during all of which time he gas dealt with community and regulatory issues. As part of the ongoing Civil Service reclassification process, mandated by the Board of Supervisors, many City positions have been reclassified but the job and functions have been ongoing. (This stunning gem of a bureaucratic sentence appears to explain why Maher has seen his pay increase by almost $30,000.) Regarding Mr. Maher's credentials, Mr. Maher, an Attorney, has extensive regulatory experience including chair of the Golden Gate Bridge Transportation Committee, The President of the San Francisco Transit Authority, A Commissioner on the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, a Association of Bay Area Governments Director, the Executive Director of Parking and Traffic for the City and County of San Francisco and a member and chair of the Traffic and Public Works Committees of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Mr. Maher's position is a permanent position under the civil service which was openly advertised and tested for pursuant to civil service rules. (Come on -- does anybody really believe this job was advertised, that scores of potential candidates were recruited, and that Maher just happened to be the top performer on the civil-service test?) Mr. Maher worked directly with the Airport Director on the Airfield Development program and spent the majority of his time outside of the Airport meeting with Regulatory Bodies, Government Officials, community leaders, interested citizens and groups representing all sides of the development issue. He attempted to find common ground wherever possible and at maintain least civil disagreement and open communications where consensus was not possible (This refers to an attempt several years ago to expand the airport's runways. The project would have involved a huge amount of Bay fill, and was resounding rejected.) In his present similar role, he continues to be heavily involved off the Airport site itself. At the direction of the Executive Director, Mr. Maher spends a great deal of time reviewing and attending appropriate Board, Commission and Regulatory meetings a well as involvement in the community itself. It is important for the Airport to be aware of community sentiment that may impact the airport and the regulatory climate within in which it must exist. (Again: Which meetings would those be?) A majority of Mr. Maher's work is done off site to facilitate his regulatory and community involvement and since he has no direct supervisory duties at the Airport proper. Mr. Maher does not park elsewhere at the Airport but takes BART a few times a month when other family members need his vehicle. (Translation: We don't know where the hell he is, either.) He has no comments on political gossip. Michael C. McCarron Director, Bureau of Community Affairs San Francisco International Airport P.O. Box 8097 San Francisco, CA 94128 650-821-4000 650-821-4004 (fax) --- End forwarded message ---